Chicago Northwest Blog

The Civil War and Income Tax – What’s the Connection?

The deadline to submit your tax returns is approaching – April 15 is just around the corner. Meet Chicago Northwest wants to offer some relief. Take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy these interesting and odd tax tidbits.

Then check out some of our post-tax day deals to unwind and spend that hefty tax refund you got!

Federal income taxes were first introduced with the Revenue Act Of 1861 to fund the Civil War.

Form1040 form was introduced in 1913; it was only 3 pages long.

In 1691, England taxed the number of windows on a house. People built houses with fewer windows or closed up the windows they already had. When this became a health issue, the tax was repealed in 1851.

Russian Emperor Peter the Great placed a tax on beards in 1705 to encourage men to shave.

In Chicago, candy that is prepared with flour is taxed as food at 1%, while candy that is prepared without flour is taxed as candy at 6.25%.

Salt was a very popular thing to tax because consuming it is necessary to humans. The British placed a tax on salt, and the salt tax gained worldwide attention when Ghandi staged nonviolent protests against it.

In Britain, Lady Godiva made her famous ride as a tax protest.

And for all you thieves reading this blog, take note…

The IRS taxes stolen property. The 1040 instructions say that you should report it as stolen property. However, doing that would be self-incrimination, from which we are protected by the Constitution; therefore, one has the option of reporting it as “other income”.